Kerry may be choice for secretary of defense

Security shuffle follows Petraeus’s departure

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John Kerry is highly qualified for the job, administration officials believe.

By Greg Miller and Karen DeYoungWashington Post
November 13, 2012

WASHINGTON — President Obama is considering asking Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to serve as his next defense secretary, part of an extensive rearrangement of his national security team that will include a permanent replacement for former CIA director David Petraeus.

Although Kerry is thought to covet the job of secretary of state, senior administration officials familiar with transition planning said that nomination will almost certainly go to Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the United Nations.

John Brennan, Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, is a leading contender for the CIA job if he wants it, officials said. If Brennan goes ahead with his plan to leave government, Michael Morell, the agency’s acting director, is the prohibitive favorite to take over permanently. Officials cautioned that the White House discussions are in the early phases and that no decisions have been made.

Petraeus’s resignation last week after revelations of an extramarital affair have complicated what was already an intricate puzzle to reassemble the administration’s national security and diplomatic pieces for Obama’s second term.

The process has become further complicated by congressional ire over not being told that Petraeus was under FBI investigation, on top of what will probably be contentious closed-door hearings this week over administration actions surrounding the attack on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, in September.

Rice, one of an inner circle of aides who have been with Obama since his first presidential campaign in 2007, is under particular fire over the Benghazi incident, in which the US ambassador and three other Americans were killed.

Some Republican lawmakers have suggested that she was part of what they suspect was an initial, election-related attempt to portray the attack as a peaceful demonstration that turned violent, rather than what the administration now acknowledges was an organized terrorist assault.

Rice’s description, days after the attack, of a protest gone wrong was either intentionally misleading or incompetent, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, said Sunday. Rice, he said, ‘‘would have an incredibly difficult time’’ winning Senate confirmation as secretary of state.

But several White House officials said Obama is prepared to dig in his heels over her nomination to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Rice’s post-Benghazi remarks on several television news shows were merely a recitation of administration talking points drawn directly from intelligence available at the time, said the senior administration officials, who agreed to discuss the closely held transition planning only on the condition of anonymity.

Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council, said the White House would not comment on personnel matters.

The upcoming hearings and an independent State Department review of the Benghazi attack — being led by retired diplomat Thomas Pickering and retired admiral Mike Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — may reveal some intelligence lapses and security missteps, one official said. But they will also demonstrate that there was no attempt at subterfuge, the official added.

Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter also has been mentioned as a possible replacement for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, as has been Michele Flournoy, former undersecretary for policy at the Pentagon.

The timing of a nomination for Panetta’s successor is unclear. On Monday, he said he had no imminent plans to step down but indicated that he was unlikely to stay in the job for the duration of Obama’s second term.

‘‘Who the hell knows,’’ Panetta said, when asked by reporters traveling with him to Australia whether he would remain in office for four more years. ‘‘It’s no secret that at some point I'd like to get back to California.’’

Kerry did not respond to requests for comment on his possible nomination at the Pentagon. A spokeswoman, Jodi Seth, said: ‘‘Senator Kerry’s only focus right now is his job as senior senator from Massachusetts and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee.’’

But administration officials, one of whom described Kerry as a ‘‘war hero,’’ said his qualifications for the defense job included not only his naval service in Vietnam but also his knowledge of the budget and experience in the diplomacy that has increasingly become a part of the defense portfolio.

They said the Democrats’ retention of the Senate majority, with a net gain of two seats, in last week’s election provided a cushion that allowed them to consider Kerry’s departure from the chamber.

Antony Blinken, Vice President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, is said to be under consideration for Rice’s job at the United Nations, as is Samantha Power, the National Security Council’s senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights.

It was unclear who would take Brennan’s counterterrorism job if he leaves government or moves to the CIA. He was the top contender to lead the agency when Obama was first elected in 2008, but he withdrew under criticism, which he deemed unfair, of his role in intelligence excesses under the administration of George W. Bush.

Although that challenge is now seen as behind him, officials said he has not indicated whether he would like to be considered again to head the agency where he spent 25 years.

Michael Vickers, undersecretary of defense for intelligence, also has been mentioned as a candidate for CIA director.